Office



J. BENNER.-

Smut Machine.

Patented Sept. 11. 1847,,

). UNITED STATES PATENT ointu JACOB BENNER', OF LIBERTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

SMUT-MACHINE.

Specification of LettersPatent No. 5,289, dated Septemberll, 1847.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB BENNER, of

. accompanying drawings, making part of this specificatlon, in wh1chFigure 1 is a perspective view of the machine; Fig. 2, a verticalsection; and Fig. 3, a horizontal section taken at the line (X X)of'Fig. 2.

The same letters indicate like the figures.

Machines for cleaning grain. have long since been made with heatersprojecting from a vertical shaft rotating within a circular casecomposed of bars placed at such distance apart as to leave a freedischargefor dust and other impurities, but not large enough to permitthe escape of the grainair being admitted to the case by centrifugalforce to aid infthe discharge of the impurities. But in these machines,the grain, which is fed in at the top and discharged at the bottom,passes through the machine too rapidly to be thoroughly cleaned, and toremedy this evil various parts in all plans have been essayed whichhave'either failed to accomplish the desired object, or

have accomplished it at such cost of time and power as to be of verylittle practical use. But by my improvement I attain this desired end bysimple and efficient means, and the nature of my invention consists individing the case into several compartments one above the other by meansof horizontal rings that extend from the inner periphery of the case toa wire gauze or perforated cylinder surrounding and attached to theshaft, the heaters being attached to and projecting from this perforatedcylinder and made to rotate within the compartments between thehorizontal rings-when this is combined with a system or set of feedingor discharging tubes connected with the outer case, the first todischarge the grain in the upper or first compartment which is thereacted upon by the first set of heaters, carried entirely around anddischarged by centrifugal force into the second tube through an aperturethe whole height of the compartmentthis discharges the grain into thesecond compartment in the same manner as it was fed into the first, andafter being acted upon in this second 00mpart-ment by the'second set ofheaters and carried around it is discharged .into the" third tube whichdelivers it to the third compartment, and so on to the end where it isdischarged from the lower end of the last tube'in a trough orspoutlead'ing 'from' a fan blower on'the lower'endof the shaft of thebeaters. In this way the grain undergoes a successionof beatingoperations in passing from one chamber or compartment to another insuccession,'the beating operation in each being aided by the outwardcurrent of air that enters the. wire gauge or' perforated cylinderateach end and which is forced out bycentrifugal force through" theapertures of the casing carrying out with it'the impurities that havebeen beaten out, and finally theremaining dust, smut, &c., is dischargedand carried off by the current of air from the fan blower'whichcrossesthe grain as'it' falls.

In the accompanying drawing rep-' resents a suitable frame which may beof;

any desired construction, and (1))" a vertical shaft with pulley' at theupper end. with which it is driven a belt from somefirst' moveriTowardeach end of this shaft (and at intermediate points within) it isprovided with a set of arms (0, 0) which are connected "together by bars(d) over which is secured a cylinder (6) made of wire gauze orperforated sheet metal to permit air to pass .through'freely; and to theouter surface of this perforated cylinder are attached a series ofsetsof beaters (f) each set consisting of one beater for each bar (at)composing the frame of the cylinder. They are made of sheet metalproperly secured to the perforated or wire gauze cylinder and to thebars (d). They project from this cylinfor the purpose of throwing up thegrain.

when beating it and thereby preventing it from settling by gravity onthe lower ring or partition of each compartment.

The outer casing (g) is composed of vertical bars placed at suchdistances apart as to leave spaces between them which will not permitthe escape of the grain and yet leave a free discharge for dust andother impurities, these bars are connected at each end to the rings (h,h) each having a hole in the middle of about the diameter of the innerperiphery of the wire gauze cylinder for the free admission of thecurrents of air induced by the rotation of the beaters, as above stated;and the length of this case is divided into three compartments (2', 2',1') by two rings (j, j) similar to the rings (h, h) and placed betweenthe sets of beaters, so as to have one set of beaters for eachcompartment. To the outside of this casing there is a set of tubes (70),(Z), (m), and (n). The one (is) is hopper shaped at the upper end andopens into the first compartment (11) (see red lines in Fig. 2) near thetop thereof to supply the grain to be cleaned, and as it enters it iscarried around by the beaters,

which by their inclination prevent it from falling on the first ring (j)and by centrifugal action throw it against the bars of the outer casingto beat out the impurities which are blown out through the spacesbetween the bars by the outward current of air, and in this way thegrain is gradually carried around and then forced through an aperture(see red lines in Fig. 2) the whole height of the chamber into thesecond tube (Z) which delivers it into the second compartment '(z') inthe same manner as it was delivered in the first, and after undergoing alike operation as in the first it is discharged into the third tube (m)to be delivered into the third compartment (7;) to undergo a thirdoperation, and from this it is discharged'into the third tube (m)'thelower or delivery end of which is bent as at (0) in the direction of thespout (p) of a fan blower (9) attached to the lower end of a' shaft (2))and below the casing, so that the current of air induced by the rotationof this fan shall carry oil the remaining impurities from the grain asit is delivered from the tube or spout (n).

This machine may be made with any desired number of compartments tosubject the grain to a succession of operations, and the bars of theouter casing may be made in any desired form, or manner according to anyof the known plans of smut machines.

What I claim as my invention and'desire to secure by Letters Patent is.

1. Making the outer case of the machine in several compartments, oneabove the other with the sets of beaters playing within them,substantially as described, in combination with the tubes or spoutsattached to.

the periphery of and opening into the outer casing to conduct thegrainfrom one compartment to another in succession, substan tially asdescribed.

'2. And I also claim in combinationwith O. P. BRoWNE, JAMES H., KELLER.

